"The Open Day is going ahead, however, and Mick hopes to display the full range of Hesketh V-Twin motorcycles, from the original V1000 to the latest Vulcan 1200. Staff will be available for demonstrations and to answer questions; other British manufactures will be in attendance with trade stands, and some notable bikes of interest have been invited. The day coincides with the airfield's vintage aircraft fly in, with a classic vehicle family day, and hog roast to add to the attractions.

... they weren't referring to that piece of shit vulcan and besides , haven't you got a stranded , in dire straits , about to die motorcycle rider to save somewhere because they are too fucking stupid to fix a flat tire without a center stand.

p.s ... dire straits wasn't in reference to an 80's band and being a member there of.

In the US registered motorcycles don't even make up 3% of vehicles on the road. Yes car's cost much more money to build, but your selling on a market that's almost 100% larger therefore increasing your chance of success by that much.

If I am to assume you mean that the size of the market for a vehicle type is represented by it's percentage of total vehicles on the road, then what the numbers you've given are saying is;

A) The US bike market is roughly half the size of the US car market (bike companies that sell in the US can only dream of such a world)
B) Cars and bikes together only make up about 9% of the vehicles on the road (Granted there are a lot of SUVS and trucks out there, but 9 out of every 10 vehicles?)
C) I'd be about twice as likely to succeed starting a new car company than I would be starting a new bike company, simply because of market size. (Oh if only it were that simple)

I don't know if Motus will make it or not. I hope they do. I'm not arguing either way. I just have a thing about arguments that don't pass a basic math reality check.

Same here. I got my deposit back for the same reason. And I'm competent enough with working on stuff that I'm not worried about something going awry and a dealer not being nearby (2 1/2 hours to Austin). Several brands and vintage of bike over the past 2 decades have made me a good wrencher out of necessity.

But just because I can not justify more than $25k for a bike (or afford it) doesn't mean someone else can't. Look at all those custom fat tire chopper pieces of fancy rolling ill handling crap. Every weekend, I see at least 10 choppers that cost someone $40k on the Texas rural roads. Sure, Texas is a cruiser state. HDs make up 90% of the bikes out on the road each weekend. But I'm just saying there isn't a shortage of people with $40k of disposable income to be put towards a bike.

I think the Carter guy either doesn't like the price because he can't afford it, so he bashes them, or he really just doesn't understand the market, or get far enough away from home regularly to see that market. Maybe both. It isn't for him or Jerry. They should just tuen their heads the other way.

When those people fork over 40K, there are doing so in large part to buy the image and status that the Motus won't give them.

Exactly. Those $40K choppers make them look like badass bikers, which is what they want. The Motus seems to be aimed mostly at the BMW crowd, and you are not likely to get them off their BMWs with anything else. BMW has amazing brand loyalty, probably as good as HD. Motus has, well, nothing. Most people, riders and non riders alike, have never heard of them.

BTW, the bottom fell out of the $40K chopper business. You can now find these bikes on Craigslist for $10K or less. Most of them were bought with home equity loans, and since most people no longer have any home equity, there are no more loans.

Same here. I got my deposit back for the same reason. And I'm competent enough with working on stuff that I'm not worried about something going awry and a dealer not being nearby (2 1/2 hours to Austin). Several brands and vintage of bike over the past 2 decades have made me a good wrencher out of necessity.

But just because I can not justify more than $25k for a bike (or afford it) doesn't mean someone else can't. Look at all those custom fat tire chopper pieces of fancy rolling ill handling crap. Every weekend, I see at least 10 choppers that cost someone $40k on the Texas rural roads. Sure, Texas is a cruiser state. HDs make up 90% of the bikes out on the road each weekend. But I'm just saying there isn't a shortage of people with $40k of disposable income to be put towards a bike.

I think the Carter guy either doesn't like the price because he can't afford it, so he bashes them, or he really just doesn't understand the market, or get far enough away from home regularly to see that market. Maybe both. It isn't for him or Jerry. They should just tuen their heads the other way.

You just proved my point. Then not only did you decide not to buy one but you then go ahead and make a comment that other people probably will. Seriously...

And you're comparing apples to oranges talking about choppers. As it's been said $40k choppers are an image thing. It's all about looking cool. The Motus may look cool to us nerdy bike guys cause it's got a V4 and Ohlins suspension, but the guys with the disposable income that are riding choppers wouldn't even give that bike a second glance.

If they were building an adventure bike I might change my tune because that's a hot market right now. It's the market that's stealing customers away from sport touring bikes. BMW hands down outsells every other bike they make with their GS line. They sell almost 4 times as much of them as they do the K16. Ducati stopped making the ST, replaced with an adv type bike, Triumph is dropping the Sprint soon but only after they made that Explorer and the Tiger 800, Suzuki will keep the bandit because it's cheap, and Honda came out with the VFR but only so they could share the motor with what? An Adventure bike. Just look at this forum. This is one of the biggest bike forums out there and it's not called Sport Touring Rider.

Again, I'm not bashing the bike, I just have very little hope on this companies success purely from a business investors standpoint. It's a tough formula to make work and they're going after a dying market. They're are smarter and safer ways of going about this type of venture that would better ensure success. But best of luck to Motus either way.

These comments come from personal knowledge and experience and are purely opinions. I say these things not of jealousy from a lack of income. I have worked in the bike industry, I currently make my living off of understanding markets, and I just got back from a 4200 mile road trip. I've seen some things...

So in an effort to make you sound less foolish may I ask you to please refrain from making comments as if you know anything about me.

You guys just can't see far enough past your own neighborhood.
There's a group of people out there that live in a land of $2000 pens, and $20,000 watches. They own quantities of them.
Go and buy a copy of the Robb Report, and then ask yourself if there 200 people per year for this bike. Now add in the other rich people who love motorcycles around the rest of the world.

You guys just can't see far enough past your own neighborhood.
There's a group of people out there that live in a land of $2000 pens, and $20,000 watches. They own quantities of them.
Go and buy a copy of the Robb Report, and then ask yourself if there 200 people per year for this bike. Now add in the other rich people who love motorcycles around the rest of the world.

They must have at least one sold already to the Barber Museum.

And another one to Jay Leno

__________________
'88 R100GS
'76 xl350
"Don't Panic"
"If I was in a hurry, I'd left earlier."